Yeah. What about industry? You know, one of the things we wanted to talk about was getting involved with industry. Do you want to start Regina with this one? Where I am now in Denver is my second job at a fellowship. And, you know, when you're a fellow, it's great because they all come to you. And so coming out here, I mostly just had to reach out to the Catholic staff here and other partners here who have introduced me to the reps. And for me, it's been a good experience, just getting to know everyone and just knowing what, you know, what they, what they represent, because it's just another resource to have in the lab. Especially when you're starting out, it doesn't hurt to have somebody who can help you with the technical aspects of stuff. So that that's that, you know, that's just another piece of support for you. Sheila, do you want to add anything? Thanks, Regina. Sheila, do you want to add anything? No, I think, you know, they were an excellent educational resource when I was a fellow, and that has continued. I would say that, you know, just painting the experience of what the labs are like where I work with, especially when you're not working in a community-based setting, especially when you might be the only person who's interested in co-registration, or, you know, OCT, doing important runs, multiple runs. It is such an asset to have the rep in the room with me, especially for all my high-risk cases. I have my device rep in the room. I have my imaging rep in the room, because it helps troubleshoot. You know, if something doesn't work, and you're relying on the technician or, you know, your cath lab staff to help you, what I find is that they just become disgruntled. They start questioning why you even want to use it. So to be honest, I've leaned on industry reps for their advocacy, for the technology that I know I know will improve the outcomes for the patient, and I think that has been the most important learning. They also help me create images. You know, they're a real asset for a busy interventional cardiologist who's working in a lab that's equally busy. So I have found that relationship very helpful. Thanks, Shreela. I completely agree with you. You know, the reps come in very handy when you're doing, you know, imaging, and you learn something new every single time. They'll have something to tell you, and they also talk to you about what the other institutions are doing, what the other physicians are doing, and, you know, I think I agree with you. I couldn't agree more. Poonam, do you have anything to add, please? Yeah, sure. I think they're really helpful in understanding. So if you're starting in a new lab or you want to know what products there are, I think they'll give you a rundown about what's available in the lab, right, and then if you need some support during any of your cases, they're always willing to help and assist. And the other important thing is they will also give you information about any new products that are, you know, coming up, and or if there's anything you want to train, then they can help you go to a training course to learn new stuff, because as a fellow, you probably are exposed to everything, but once you're out of your fellowship, then, you know, how do you know about what are the new products, what new things are going on, and so I think they're very, very helpful in that aspect as well. And the other thing is they will also give you information about, you know, what's going on, like you just said, Nishta, around the, you know, other programs or across the country, and that's really helpful for you to understand. The other most important thing for those who are coming out early is if you need proctorship for something, they're very helpful in setting up. They work on a lot of high-risk things, and if you're interested in doing, let's say, CTOs, they might help you with a proctor or things like that, so that's really helpful, and I think you have to make use of those resources that you have available in the lab to help yourself grow once you're out of your training. Agree with you, Poonam, and a lot of times they will offer you to proctor other people as well, so that's another opening, consulting opportunities and proctoring opportunities can also open up with a good relationship, and the word of mouth goes around through industry as well, and that's why having a good relationship with them is very important. Nadia, what do you have to add? Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. I think there's a couple of other things I would just add to what's already been stated. One is that when you're looking for positions or jobs, talking to reps from industry can be extremely helpful because they are in those labs, and they know the lab culture. They know the personalities. When you go to interview anywhere, people are always going to put out their best face forward, but sometimes when you talk to reps and you can ask them about the program, what the culture is, because I think that's a really important aspect of when you're taking a job because I will also say that others will do that about you, so that does happen that if you're applying for a position somewhere, I would not be surprised if the place that you're interviewing reaches out to somebody other than the people who you have listed as your references. They may reach out to people who are not physicians. They may reach out to industry or nurses or techs and ask about what is your dynamic in the cath lab? Are you professional? All those kinds of things, so that is something to be very aware of, so ultimately we should have good relationships because that's the professional thing to do, but just to keep in mind that you don't want to be rude to anybody. You want to make sure you're always treating people with respect because those may be the people who are asked to give a recommendation for you. That's one thing. The second thing is just I know we talked a little bit about training and everything. The other thing is if you have a specific interest and make sure that you make that known, so you may have told your colleagues that you're interested in imaging or physiology or what have you, but talk to your industry partners as well because sometimes something might come along where they may have a new device or they may have a study. There may be some opportunity that they're aware of that may be beneficial to you, your program, your patients, and unless they know about your interest, they may not realize, so sometimes when folks from industry come to the cath lab, they may go talk to the person who they always go talk to, so if you see them, just introduce yourself and say, hey, I'm so-and-so. I just started here because I'm not going to say which industry partner there was, but I know I've walked through the cath lab before and because there's not that many women in the field, I have been sort of not, I don't want to say overlooked, but somebody didn't realize that I was actually one of the interventional cardiologists, and so they did not stop and introduce themselves to me, which at the time I was really busy, so it was fine, but you do need to just explain who you are and what your interests are, and the more you get it out there, I think the more opportunities will arise. Nadia, something that you just said actually reminded me of how important it is to let people know what your niche is. I was lucky because I had built this presence of, you know, my advocacy for women with heart disease. A lot of industry reps in New Jersey who had known about that led with that approach when they were trying to meet me, and it's actually led to a lot of discussions. They've bumped me up to higher ups, you know, in terms of field reps, managers, and sometimes on national boards, you know. A connection through Abbott that happened in the cath lab has now led to me being a part of the microvascular network. That all happened through industry connections and my interest in that, so I think they can really support you, especially when you're trying to build something, right? Like, I was trying to build my women's heart program, and they really helped connect me to the right people to help build those inroads. Yeah, thank you for bringing that up because I think that because there are not that many women in our field, there are not that many women who are on advisory boards, who are on steering committees, who have had those experiences to kind of get the word out that those are important opportunities for professional development, and that is how a lot of networking happens, and it's a lot, you know, it's like you have one opportunity that leads to another that leads to five others, so like that's, it's really important to, you know, to form those relationships because it can be very helpful in other ways that are not even related to, you know, devices or anything like that. It's just kind of networking within our field, so yeah, I think that's a really, really important piece that we have to advocate for. You have to advocate for yourself. I think that other people are out there advocating for themselves, so absolutely you do need to put this to everybody, and everybody listening, advocate for yourself.

building relationships

industry representatives

technical support

networking

career opportunities